More Conservation and More Recreation

More Recreation + More Conservation in the Nantahala-Pisgah National Forests

On December 7, 2015, A large coalition of conservation and recreation groups sent a groundbreaking memorandum of understanding (MOU) or proposal to the National Forest Service for a new Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests Plan that provides both more public access and better recreational opportunities while also doing a stronger job at conserving Western North Carolina’s backcountry and wild places.

Wilderness advocates and conservationists support this proposal because it wins stronger protections for more than 364,000 of the national forest’s 1 million acres including 109,000 acres of designated Wilderness Area. Recreational users of our national forests also support this proposal because it would create two new National Recreation Areas and provide greater public access to hikers, horseback riders, climbers, and mountain bikers.

To get this done, we need your help. The establishment of additional Wilderness and new National Recreation Areas require acts of Congress. This is no easy feat, especially in this political climate, but it’s been successfully done at Hermosa Creek in Colorado, where 70,000 acres were permanently protected (38,000 as Wilderness), and in Columbine Hondo Wilderness in New Mexico, where a boundary adjustment to an existing Wilderness Area drew recreational support for the 45,000-acre new Wilderness. Both of these examples are from the past year!

Please lend you voice to this effort by letting the Forest Service know you support the MOU.